Food Culture

OSI Group has a long and rich history, being established all the way back in the early 20th century, in 1909 by German immigrant Otto Kolschowsky. The small Chicago-based venture started as a butcher shop and retail meat market, and after 109 years of operation is considered to be among the largest food providers on the planet.

What started as a small neighborhood business is currently a global enterprise, having a total of 65 facilities in 17 countries, and approximately 20,000 employees. The company continues to evolve even a century later, expanding and growing its business.

One pivotal moment in the history of OSI Group is the partnership made with McDonalds, which resulted in the OSI Group McDonalds agreement. In 1955. Ray Kroc opened the doors to the first McDonalds restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois. He was working as a franchise agent for a couple in California, who in 1940 opened a family restaurant. The restaurant in Des Plaines was a step made towards the expansion of the brand. Kroc eventually bought the franchise from Richard and Maurice McDonald and was the Chief Executive Officer of the corporation.

Before the original McDonald’s restaurant started its business, Kroc made an agreement with OSI Group to become the first supplier of fresh ground beef for the franchise. The OSI Group McDonalds agreement turned out to be beneficial for both parties. As McDonald’s gained in popularity, so did OSI Industries, supplying meat for a number of regional McDonald’s restaurants.

McDonald’s became one of the most recognizable brands in the world, which meant that the OSI Group McDonalds link resulted in good business for OSI. The company was responsible for providing a consistent and affordable product which can be transported over long distances to the growing number of McDonald’s restaurants. The technological breakthrough that happened in the late 1960s made their work easier, with the introduction of cryogenic food processing. This tightened the relationship between the company and McDonald’s.

By 1973, the company built their first plant that was dedicated to McDonald’s product line. The state of the art facility was located in West Chicago, and included advanced technology necessary for flash freezing hamburger patties. Undoubtedly, the OSI Group McDonalds agreement made with Ray Kroc was a massive break for OSI and helped turn it into the global entity that it is today.

Little did Otto Kolschowsky know what his small meat market and butcher shop would become someday. He starts his family business just two weeks of arriving in the Untied States from Europe. He settled in Chicago, Illinois. He worked very hard on his business supplying quality meats to his community. Eventually, the company grew to the point of being able to start wholesaling. With more time, the company grew to the point Otto rebranded his family business. As the decades went by and success grew, his company was offered a deal by Ray Kroc. Ray Kroc made a handshake deal with the son of Otto for his restaurant. Franchising a business was new in the mid twentieth century but Ray Kroc saw a vision. With his vision, he turned the small, local meat market started by an immigrant into the hamburger mega house known today as McDonald’s.

When the OSI Group transformed the original McDonald’s supply chain, the large leading food company knew how to get the hamburger chain to the next level. Many retail businesses and restaurant chains utilize OSI’s strategic practices to transform their companies. The giant food supplier has the capabilities of scaling products and services on a global level for businesses. Having a large presence in supply chain of food, gives this company the ability to give companies affordable prices for quality products and services. The company strives to create the best operations to fulfill companies’ demands, they work to cut food preparation time and only offer food that has met safety standards. They make sure their food satisfies all taste palettes. They offer a large variety of food choices to their customers.

OSI Group has joint ventures with warehouses, farms, processing plants and poultry facilities. With the quality of work OSI Group consistently delivers, the company is surely going to become the top supplier of food globally to branded North American companies. The corporation also works with food business in Europe and throughout the entire world. Australia and Asia are markets the company works in as well.

Otto’s little meat shop has given way to a large supplier of food. OSI Group still remembers its humble beginnings. Just as their founder, the company prides itself on delivering quality and cost effective products as the recipe to their success.

Sheldon Lavin is a businessman, philanthropist and the Chief Executive Officer of the leading meat manufacturing and packaging food service company OSI Group. The company has its operations based in the State of Illinois Aroura.

Sheldon Lavin’s history with the company is wholly an exciting one starting out as an ordinary person in the company and now owns the firm. Sheldon Lavin started working with OSI Group in the 1960s initially known as Otto & Sons company. The sole owners were Mr. Otto and his sons, and when Sheldon Lavin started participating actively in the operations of the company in the 1970s, it was the most significant supplier of hamburgers for McDonald’s.

However, because of the financial constraints the company was experiencing, it could not live up to deliver on the deal. Sheldon Lavin took over as the principal advisor for the company concerning financial matters. During this period when Sheldon took over, the company experienced exponential growth. Sheldon Lavin was the driving force behind the organization acquiring funds from credited financial institutions.

Sheldon Lavin was a very significant part of the company becoming a leading manufacturer and provider of food services. He helped expand the network for the company and build a more clientele network. Much of the credit goes to him for the company going from supplying their products just in Illinois to other regions such as Philippines, South Africa, Japan, Europe, North America and Australia. In 1975, Mr. Otto retired from business, and Sheldon Lavin partnered with the sons, and the name of the organization was changed to OSI Group. Eventually, Sheldon Lavin acquired the controlling interests of the firm and took charge of the company. He is indeed a unique force in the business of food and meat processing.

His approach to the operations of the company is designed to help the company deliver even in a complex chain of supply. A significant part of the success Sheldon Lavin has achieved is owed to the fact that he is a team player. Sheldon Lavin has seen to it that a collaborative work environment has been created and the company working towards a common goal. Sheldon Lavin is one who does not like to be blindsided, and he ensures that the operations of his company are up to date with the preferences of the consumers, changes in technology and trends in resources. In 2016, Sheldon Lavin received the Global Visionary Award because of his efforts in making OSI Group an international firm.

You’re probably familiar with various fast food brands like McDonald’s and Burger King or one of America’s premium pizza franchises in Pizza Hut, but usually not enough credit goes to the company that’s supplied those restaurants with the delicious meats over the years. That company is OSI Industries and its flagship OSI Food Group led by Chairman and CEO Sheldon Lavin. Lavin has been in this business over 40 years and has not only made bold decisions with company financial investments over the years, but he’s also poured a lot of those investments and his own personal time to taking care of the company’s many employees. Lavin says that the company has long had a family foundation that has guided how it operates even before he came to it, but he’s made sure even with its billion-dollar growth that it retains that foundation.

The family that owned OSI Industries before Sheldon Lavin arrived was the Kolschowsky family that had turned a butcher shop into a meat wholesale company named Otto & Sons that was now gaining clients in the now popular fast food industry including McDonald’s. They realized they were going to need to invest in large production plants to meet the needs of their new clients, but they needed someone who could secure financing for them. Lavin was just the man to do it because he had previously been an investment banker and had connections at various Chicago banks. Upon securing the company’s loan, Lavin had been asked to become an owner in the company but he didn’t want to do that since he felt his consulting company was what he wanted to stay with. Years later though as he started managing Otto & Sons’ budgets and started becoming passionate about the food industry, he accepted the position as company CEO and after it was renamed to OSI Industries, he bought the ownership shares from the now retired former owners.

Sheldon Lavin started financing and building company plants around the US, Canada and into Europe and Asia which today totals 17 countries including their partner groups OSI China, Amick Farms, Baho Food and GenOSI. Lavin also made philanthropy an important part of the company’s investments and has given to groups in Chicago like the Inner City Foundation, the Jewish United Fund and the McDonald’s House Charities group. His path into the food industry and taking the risks he did with OSI was documented in a special award ceremony hosted at Global Vision Academy in India not long ago.

Eating at a local restaurant while on vacation is often seen as a way to get a feel for the surroundings. The idea is that eating at chain restaurants that you can find back home is pointless and gives you a homogenized idea of what the food culture is truly like in that specific area.

In the case of a Reddit post that went up on July 16, that philosophy was put to the test when people were asked why they ate at an Olive Garden restaurant that’s located in Times Square. The ubiquitous nature of the restaurant guarantees that virtually anyone living in the United States can likely find one where they live.

The irony of the situation is that the Times Square restaurant is never short of customers. Given its location, the likelihood of paying more money that they ordinarily would seems obvious, yet the massive size of the restaurant and the crowds that continually populate them still has people waiting to be seated.

The viral nature of the post has led to more than 11,000 comments in just two days, with those posters offering a variety of reasons for making such a choice. Some were simply hungry, some liked the fact that the restaurant offers free refills. One indicated that it was one of the few options available in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Meanwhile, the economics of Olive Garden’s pricing led one school trip chaperone to note that their tight budget didn’t allow for any other considerations.

Yet some offered humorous takes on their decision, with one mention of the restaurant’s breadsticks turning into a side discussion. Another noted that a friend of his chooses Olive Garden when he’s in the pro